


Every Saturday at 3

by Diary



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Conversations, Manicures & Pedicures, POV Gilly (ASoIaF), Unrequited Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-15
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:41:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27577337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Diary/pseuds/Diary
Summary: Repost. AU. Manicurist Gilly looks forward to when client Sam comes in. Complete.
Kudos: 1





	Every Saturday at 3

Every Saturday at 3 o’ clock, Sam comes into the shop.

Today, Gilly’s free to take him, and when he comes over to her station, she asks, “Your usual?”

“Yes, please.” He smiles his usual soft, thoughtlessly polite smile.

It’s silly to think of him so much, she knows.

A big man with soft, occasionally ink-smudged hands, he always gets a simple rounded manicure. There’s some new terms the shop has for manicures, pedicures, and manipedis that they’re supposed to use when talking to male customers, but he’s never shown any embarrassment in simply asking for a manicure. She’s tried several times to get him to upgrade to a manipedi, but he does get a bit squirmy at the mention of pedicures, though, she doubts calling them by their more ‘manly’ name will do anything to change this.

Starting to get things ready, she asks, “Read any good books, lately?”

The first few times she did his nails, it was awkward. She likes to talk as she works, and he gave the impression of being the silent type. He’s not interested in sports, he shied away from anything politics related, and asking if he had a girlfriend had turned him a painful shade of red with an answer of ‘no’ that told her he’d have the same answer if she asked about a boyfriend. Then, however, his job as a librarian came up, and he doesn’t have much to say about it, but asking him about books read is always a guarantee to fill the sessions up with talking.

“Yes, but um- is there an age limit for manicures and pedicures? Are they, um, safe for people under twenty?”

“There’s no age limit, no. Some technicians won’t work on kids under a certain age, but if they know what they’re doing, it’s safe for anyone. One of my girlfriends, her son used to scratch himself as a baby, his nails grew faster and sharper than most babies’, and I’d do biweekly manicures on him.”

“Oh, that’s good.” He gives her a shy look. “You see, my sister, she’s sixteen, and she’s visiting next week. She’s a typical teenager, loves going to the mall, video-chatting with friends, all that. I thought, maybe, if it were safe, bringing her here might be a good bonding experience.”

Grabbing some nearby pamphlets, she places them in his free hand. “You have a sister?”

“Talla, and a little brother. I’m the firstborn.” Setting the pamphlets down, he digs his phone out of his pocket, and after some fumbling, he holds up a picture of a pretty older woman, a cute girl in the middle of that teenage awkward phase of puberty, and a handsome man. “Talla, Dickon, and my mother, Melessa. Dickon’s a marine.”

He says this with pride and a little worry, and something gives her the feeling it wouldn’t be good to ask about his father.

“Has your mother had manicures or pedicures before?”

“Only once. When she and my father were dating, she wanted to get her nails done professionally for prom, but the place she went, it wasn’t nice like this one, didn’t have someone like you doing it, and she’s never gone back to a nail salon since. But I’ve told her about me getting manicures, and she’s said, as long I find out it’s truly safe, she doesn’t mind me bringing Talla here.”

“I’m sorry for her bad experience. We’d take good care of your sister. Does she like to wear nail polish?”

“She loves it. She likes bright colours and cute designs. My father’s not happy about it, but my mother insists, as long as it’s not anything too extreme, she be allowed to express herself in that way.”

This confirms her suspicion it’d be best not to mention his father. She wonders if the man is the type who only has a use for certain kind of men.

If she had a son, she’d hope he’d be like Sam, kind, smart, and not afraid of doing something just because it’s been largely labelled for girls and women.

“We have plenty of nail polish and designs to choose from, and she doesn’t have to do them all the same if she doesn’t want. There’s a popular trend going around of having one nail different from the others.”

“That sounds like something she’d like,” he says. “And pedicures, they’re basically the same as manicures?”

She nods. “It won’t hurt her. We shape the toenails, and then, if the customer wants, we do polish. Sometimes, we need to do a deeper cleaning; people’s toenails can have more dirt than fingernails usually do, but it doesn’t take much longer, and it’s just as safe.”

“Is there-” He takes a deep breath. “Uh, do you, um, think it’d be possible to reserve you to do it? It’s just, you always do so good with mine, and I feel comfortable talking to you, I just want to make sure, even if it turns out to not be her thing, it won’t be a bad experience for her.”

It’s not silly how often I think of you, she realises. It’s getting serious.

That may not be good, but for now- “Of course. I’d be happy to work on your sister, and I don’t have any special appointments on Saturday. Three, or do you think another time will be better?”

“How does eleven in the morning sound?”

“That’d be a good time. We probably won’t be very busy then.” She starts on his other hand. “Does she like books as much as you do?”

“Ah, no. I’m the big reader in my family. She’s smart, does great in history and social studies, okay in all her other subjects, but she’s a much more social person than I’ve ever been. There’s this boy I think might end up being her first boyfriend, he seems nice enough, that’s in her homeroom class…”

When she finishes his nails, they make an official appointment for her to see him and his sister next Saturday.

“Thank you, Gilly.” He gives her another shy smile.

“I look forward to it,” she says, and she wishes he knew how much she means this, that it’s not just someone looking forward to the business and nice tip that’s sure to follow.

After he leaves, she starts digging through the cabinets to see if they have any coupons she can give him and his sister. She already has several polish suggestions lined up to suggest to Talla first, and maybe, she can finally convince him to let her do a pedicure.

There’s no real plan beyond this. It’d be unprofessional to ask a customer to take her on a date, but maybe, if the appointment goes well, she can slowly get to where her and Sam someday meet outside of the shop, there’s nothing unprofessional about having an outside friendship with a customer, and if she gets lucky, this might grow into something more.


End file.
